The WASPs also flew every type of mission except combat, and 38 women pilots gave their lives in the service of their country.
The WASPs flew more than 60 million miles in 78 different types of aircraft, from the smallest trainers to the fastest fighters and the largest bombers. The United States, under the direction of Jacqueline Cochran, formed the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program in which, from 1942 to 1944, more than 1,000 female flyers ferried aircraft from factories to air bases throughout the United States. For the first time the United States and the Soviet Union recruited female pilots to fly military aircraft for their countries. The international conflict provided opportunities to serve that were unprecedented in history. From the onset neither country could anticipate the tremendous human and material resources that would be required to win the war. Thousands of American and Soviet citizens, fueled by patriotism, eagerly volunteered for the armed forces.
Six months later, in the early-morning hours of December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, thus inciting the United States to join World War II. On the morning of June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in a massive operation named Barbarossa. In 1941 two events took place on opposite sides of the world that forever impacted the history of women in aviation.
